11 Marvel (and 1 'Star Wars') scenes to prepare you for 'Captain America: Civil War'

LOS ANGELES -- Captain America: Civil War is Marvel Movie No. 13, and you are probably not ready for it. But you can be.

Whether you've seen all 12 previous Marvel movies multiple times or have never seen even one, you can still make sense of Civil War -- the one where all the good guys fight each other -- with just the littlest bit of preparation.

Just don't go in cold. That can't end well. 

Having collectively seen Civil War more than once, Mashable has pulled together all the key callbacks and references to previous films for your handy reference. Our guarantee: Spend less than an hour watching these 11 Marvel movie scenes (plus a Star Wars bonus), and even a total newbie will be good to go. 

And no, this won't give you the full sense of how Civil War works as the most intimate, character-driven and deeply satisfying entry in the MCU. 

But it'll at least make you go "Hey, I understood that reference!"

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

No spoilers here -- only old stuff that will definitely connect. 

Ready? Line up these six Marvel discs and get ready to fast-forward:

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

The Avengers (2012)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Here we go:

Iron Man 2

What is and always will be my greatest creation ... is you.

The furthest back we'll need to go is Iron Man 2, from 2010. Here we first see that futurist/engineer/Iron Man Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) was preceded in his mission by his father Howard Stark, played by Mad Men star John Slattery.

Here, we found this one for you:

Captain America: The First Avenger

Steve Rogers was an abnormally diminutive man chosen for the U.S. government's super-soldier program because he's got courage and heart and grit -- but you knew that, right? RIGHT? 

Great, then all you need from this origin story is your first look at his dashing pal, Bucky Barnes, and his best girl Peggy Carter. Once you've eyeballed them, you can move on. Or keep going -- First Avenger is great.

Oh, also -- he was frozen in ice until the relative present day, so he's technically like, 100 years old.

The Avengers

This movie made $1.5 billion at the global box office -- how is it even mathematically possible that you didn't see it? Never mind. All you need is the final battle. In fact, you don't need to see it. Just know that it was horribly destructive and that a lot of civilians surely died.

There, saved you a click.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

If you want to watch just one full movie to prepare, this is the one. 

The Captain America movies actually kind of work as a trilogy -- and while The First Avenger is a marvelous introduction, Winter Soldier is where all the stuff happens. Watch it in full, and you're on solid footing.

If you're short on time, here are the 5 scenes you'll need:

1. Opening scene, "Prologue": Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is doing laps around the reflecting pool in Washington, D.C., and so is Steve Rogers. This is the moment they meet, and will help you understand their chemistry, which is fire.

2. Scene 2: "Hostages on Lemurian Star": Over the Indian Ocean, we have our first look at Frank Grillo as Brock Lumrow, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who, whoops, turns out to be a Hydra plant. He'll eventually become Crossbones -- and if you don't know who Crossbones is, he's the guy in Civil War who will drive the opening fight scene, then conclude it by saying, "This is for dropping a building on my face."

3. Scene 4: "Steve visits the Smithsonian": A couple of key moments here: Steve visits the museum where he's been immortalized for the masses -- more Bucky Barnes backstory -- and sees images of both Bucky and Peggy Carter. This motivates him to visit Peggy, who is now quite elderly. Trust us, this'll make sense during Civil War.  

4. Scene 16: "Battle over the Potomac": The S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers are going down in flames, and their destructive force is awesome. Did you know that something like 700,000 people live and work in the small patch of swamp known as Washington, D.C.? Civilians are important in Civil War. 

What's more, we see Bucky and Cap face off -- including that moment when the Winter Soldier pulls the First Avenger from the river because hey, bro-ey feelings are strong with these two. Oh, and Crossbones gets a building dropped on his face (see above).

5. Scene 17: "Life After S.H.I.E.L.D": We see Crossbones being hauled away on a stretcher. And Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), the multinational superspy, tells the U.S. government that she's pretty much through working for governments -- she's officially DNGAF.

Iron Man 3

This is the most throwaway of the Marvel movies -- virtually nothing of consequence happens in Shane Black's diversionary Marvel wank -- but there is one key moment that connect to Civil War.

It's the very last scene, where Tony Stark destroys all of his Iron Man suits to impress/assuage Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). She has had it with Tony's heroics, and he is making a huge gesture to save their relationship.

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It's also the last we'll see Paltrow as Potts -- but not the last we'll hear of her.

Age of Ultron

The least-loved of Marvel's Phase Two films is pretty pivotal -- the team is facing a threat whose capacity for collateral damage makes Loki look like a puny god -- but there's not too much here you'll actually need, other than to see the level of destruction and some passing references to Wakanda (the fictional African country from which Black Panther hails).

Once again, it's all in the finale, so skip well ahead. 

The Empire Strikes Back

Battle of Hoth. Seen it? Cool. If not, just watch the first 10 minutes (the try not keep going. Or do not. There is no try).

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